System integration can be a game-changer if done really well, BP says

System integration might allow us to accelerate the energy transition, however, it does have its challenges. Ina Kamps, VP of Offshore Wind Growth at BP, and René Peters, Business Director at TNO, discuss what the future holds in terms of system integration and what are the steps.

According to Peters, the industry is now in a position where system integration concepts are nice to have, however, in five to ten years maximum it will be a need to have.

“System integration is not selling electrons to an end user in a PPA and then assuming that you match supply and demand. I think it is looking at the total system of energy, which is molecules and electrons, and try to make use of the clever combinations of the production of the electrons, the conversion opportunities you have to go from electrons to molecules, and also the other way around, to actually balance the whole energy system,” Peters said.

Kamps notes that we need to look at system integration in a region, as no developer can solve it for the entire country.

“At the moment we are in the learning curve, we are in the kind of toddler phase, but we need to jump really quickly into becoming young adults and then start running marathons by 2030,” Kamps said.